THE KING

As the king is the most important piece, it's vital that you know what to do
with him. The more pieces there are on the board, the less safe the king
becomes. It is especially dangerous for the king when the enemy queen is
still on the board. When discussing the king's role in chess strategy, we are
mostly interested in how to keep him safe from attack. Only in the endgame,
when there are few pieces left on the board, is it safe for the king to emerge
from his fortress and join in the attack, but we will look at the role of the
king in endgames in a later tutorial.

Castle early
One of the most important things to remember early in the game, is to
castle your king to safety in the corner. You may be wondering why it is so
much safer for the king in the corner than in the centre - after all, isn't he
more likely to get trapped in a corner? Well, sometimes, but the big reason
to get the king out of the centre of the board is because the centre is where
most of the action occurs. The centre in chess is the high ground.
Occupying it confers a strategic advantage, and both sides should be
fighting to control it for themselves and deny it to the enemy. The central
pawns need to move to let out the pieces and fight for control of the centre,
and they are often exchanged off, leaving the central files open. The king is
far too vulnerable to be left in the middle of this battle.
White has started an attack on the kingside without taking the time to castle
first. Now it is black who will do the attacking, against the exposed white
king in the center.
1... Nf3+ 2. Kd1 Ne4 3. Nxe4 Qxe4 4. Bxf3 Rxf3 5. Qg1 Qe2+
6. Kc1 Bxf2 7. Qh1 Be3+ White is toast. If he had taken the time to castle
earlier, black would have had a much more difficult job to root the white
king out.

Avoid moving the pawns in front of your king

It's obvious that the king can't stay in the centre once the central pawns
have moved out to fight for the centre. The safest position for the king is
behind an undisturbed line of pawns. Once you have castled, you should
keep the pawns in front of your king unmoved for as long as possible.
Sometimes you need to move a pawn to avoid a back rank checkmate, and
sometimes it can be tempting to move your pawns to attack an enemy
piece, but remember pawns cannot go backwards and once you have
weakened your king's fortress, it will remain weakened for the rest of the
game. A loose pawn formation around the king is an invitation for your
opponent to attack there.
Earlier in the game, black moved the pawns in front of his king to chase
away a white piece. Now white is able to exploit the weakened state of the
black king's defences to launch a decisive attack:1. Nxg5This is a common
type of sacrifice when the pawns in front of the opponent's king are
overextended like this.1... hxg5 2. Qxg5+The black king has been stripped
bare of defences.2... Kh8 3. Rxd7! Now black has to give up material or be
checkmated, for example: 3... Qxd7 4. Qxf6+ Kh7 5. Nh5 Rg8 6. Qh6#
White's attack is swift and brutal, because black allowed his king's
defences to be permanently compromised.

Even if you don't move the pawns in front of your king, your opponent may
be able to force them aside with an exchange, as in the following example:

1... Qb6 The black queen attacks the white pawns on d4 and b2, but it also
leaves the defence of the knight on f6 to the pawn on g7, and this allows
white to crack open the black king's defences with an
exchange.2. Bxf6 gxf6The exchange has lured the pawn out of position,
opening a line against black's king.3. Qg4+ Kh8 4. Qf5 Now white will give
checkmate on h7 next move. Black should have kept the queen on hand to
recapture instead of the pawn. Always keep an eye out for opportunities to
wreck the opponent's defenses with an exchange that draws a pawn out of
position. Even if you can't exploit it as quickly as white does in this example,
remember pawns can't go backwards, so the weaknesses will not go away
any time soon.
Repelling boarders
Sometimes, one player will try to open up lines against the opponent's king
by advancing pawns and attempting to exchange them for the defending
pawns. This is known as a pawn storm, and can be a dangerous attacking
technique. Usually, if your pawns have not yet moved, you can avoid
exchanges by sidestepping pawn challenges and locking the pawn
structure, as in the following example:

1. h6 White wants to exchange pawns on h6 - this would weaken the black

king's pawn shield, as well as open the h-file for white's pieces to attack.
The correct response for black is to avoid the exchange: 1... g6
Now the white pawn on h6 is stuck, and white cannot easily open the h-file.
This has the downside of creating a hole on f6, but sometimes we must
choose the lesser of two evils. In this case, the black bishop and knight can
protect the hole from infiltration by enemy pieces. If black had captured on
h6 instead, the result would have been a ferocious attack for white, for
example: 1... gxh6? 2. Qxh6 Nf8 3. Bd3 f5 4. Ng5 Qc7 5. Nxe6 Nxe6 6. Qx
e6+ Qf7 7. Bxf5 and black is in a terrible mess.